Michigan Bell and Western Electric Warehouse

About this property

The Michigan Bell and Western Electric Warehouse is a former commercial warehouse building located at 882 Oakman Boulevard (also numbered as 14300 Woodrow Wilson) in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. It is now known as the NSO Bell Building. In the late 1920s, Western Electric and Michigan Bell shared a building on Detroit's east side, where Western Electric stored and distributed equipment, and Michigan Bell housed and serviced their vehicles. That building proved too small, so in 1929–30, the two companies built this structure to serve as a warehouse, garage, and office space for both. Michigan Bell used the west side of the first floor as a garage, and the third and sixth floors as maintenance operations and office space, respectively. Western Electric used a rail spur on the north and east side of the building for shipping, the second floor for storage, and the remainder of the building for offices and operations. Western Electric used the building as its Michigan headquarters until 1958, when they moved to a larger facility in Plymouth, Michigan. The next year, the Yellow Pages operation moved into the building. In 1961, a large "Yellow Pages" sign was installed across the front of the building. Michigan Bell sold the building in 1995, although the company continued to use it until 1999. For some years until the mid-1980s, the building was notable for its "Weather-Phone" sign, under the Yellow Pages logo. This translucent white plastic sign, modeled after the Western Electric model 500 desk telephone, was backlit with lights of different colors, providing a basic weather forecast to motorists on the Lodge Freeway at night. A red telephone meant warmer weather was forecast in the next 24 hours, blue meant cooler, and yellow, no change in temperature. The lighting would blink when precipitation was expected, whereas a steady light meant neither rain nor snow was expected. During the redevelopment of the building in 2009, the sign was deemed structurally unsound and removed. It was offered to museums, but due to its sheer size (it was nearly five stories tall) none were able to take it. A mixed-use renovation was planned for the structure in 2009, combining the administrative offices and services of the Neighborhood Service Organization with permanent supportive housing for the formerly homeless. Total investment is approximately $50,000,000. As of July 2013, the redevelopment is nearing completion, with only the NSO headquarters to be finished. Residents already occupy the building, which contains such amenities as a gym, library, computer room, recreation room, supportive services office, and workout room.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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